Ray and Susan Huff

Haven't had the chance to take the Ollie and bikes out yet. Still waiting for several days of dry weather that don't fall on a weekend. With most Forest Service/BLM land still locked down due to Covid and wildfires, and mountain pass conditions keeping us on the coast, it is hard to find campgrounds that aren't full, especially on the weekends. There's a small window of opportunity with no rain Friday through next Monday this week so we're talking about spending Sunday and Monday nights at a nearby county park in the small community of Powers, Oregon. It is situated on an old lumber mill site, with a large pond for kayaking/fishing and plenty of space to ride the bikes on road and off. I'm extremely happy with our bike rack solution; it looks like it will work quite well.

Sadly, these alarms are made for RVs that don't last more than 5 years! Maybe the newer monitors will be designed like the smoke alarms that are now installed in homes - with a 10 year sealed battery. Even at that, an Ollie will outlast the monitor 😁

And, as you mention, great for storing wet items; I once carried my wet inflatable kayak in the shower when my husband couldn't wait for it to dry before hitting the road 😊

This is true . . . . takes some creative planning. Nevertheless, I'm impressed with the storage in our Elite II.

I agree, not to mention the need to have some protection on windows located on the tongue side of a trailer.

And the Oliver also allows the use of a bike rack between the tow vehicle and the Oliver's tongue jack.

The only thing I miss about the dry-bath is the stand alone shower makes a great closet - which is how we mostly used ours in our Class C motorhome, since large storage compartments were few.

And a deeper clean can always be performed between excursions, provided you aren't a full-timer.

Thanks for the tip! I only wish the mount swiveled, but it doesn't

120v so shore power or inverter. Model D24H-G2 Smart TV, 24" and not HD (720p). Specs indicate 45W draw; <0.5 on standby. It plugs into an outlet in the attic, so you can unplug it to eliminate parasitic draw. There is a USB port for thumb drive (to view pictures) and a stereo jack for headphones. Specs say it has 2 HDMI inputs, but there's only 1 shown in the manual (on the back panel); perhaps the other is connected to the Furrion entertainment system (not Blu-ray). It also has basic manual controls - Power, volume, input - on the back (should you lose your remote or it dies). And wireless connectivity, but no Ethernet plug, so you can stream video.

Nope . . . . we actually ordered our Ollie without the omni-directional antenna (in case we want to add another solar panel). We really don't watch TV while traveling, except for a DVD when the weather forces us inside.

Our 2021 Girard standard awning is solid colored, no "wavy stripy". But I would say it is more of a dark charcoal hue. I don't see the standard awning listed on the Girard website . . . . only the 2085 which has Sunbrella fabric. Does anyone know what model is standard on the 2021 Oliver?

Yes . . . . we would have chosen manual over power . . . . but with the switch to Girard awnings, manual is not an option since they don't have a manual version. I do love the Girard design; it is so much better than the "awful awning" on our previous RV - a Carfree with support legs.

This is a question I had to ask . . . . standard awning is "black", though I would say more charcoal. The fabric is vinyl.

I love the "lipstick on a pig"!

Our daugher-in-law says it well . . . . "you don't use the toilet and the shower at the same time!" . . . . . . although the toilet is handy for a taller person (my husband) as you can sit and not have to stand hunched over while showering 😊

Great analogy . . . . most Airstreams are more suited to RV resort camping . . . . but, you miss out on a lot by avoiding the other end of the camping spectrum - boondocking, public lands, etc . . . . not to say you can't experience these in an Airstream . . . . but the Basecamp is more suitable, and the closest comparison to an Oliver.

The Airstream has 12" of additional width . . . .

I did a quick search and don't see this subject covered. It's another thing I neglected to ask during our walk-through: How do you get the center mounted television in the 2021 Elite II Twin to swing down? I can't seem to find any information in the manuals and no sign of a catch or button to release it. I tugged a little, but was afraid I might break something. I'm hoping there is someone here who asked this question and can help me. It would be embarrassing to call Oliver to ask 😳

It took me a couple of days to get used to the bathroom feeling like a compartment and not a room . . . . but I'm ok with it . . . . actually, I love it! It's easy to clean and not situated right next to the bed, as the bathrooms are in some trailers.

My reaction to the Oliver wet bath was surprising; it is a much larger bathroom than we had in our Leisure Travel Van Twin Bed model, which was a split layout with an enclosed shower on one side of the hall and the toilet/lavatory on the other; both of them very small. With the Oliver bathroom, almost full width of the trailer, you have a lot of elbow room for showering. If you use the shower head in your hand, as opposed to hanging in the wall bracket, the toilet rarely gets wet. The only downside is, with the bathroom at the front, you have the sloping ceiling; combined with the raised shower pan, there's not a lot of headroom for taller people, although it's fine for my 5'7" height. Another thing - and this was my reaction when I first stepped into an Elite II Twin: the interior is so open. This is partly due to the fact that the bathroom is in the front and not amidships where it would break up the living space into two smaller areas. Give the Oliver bathroom a chance, I think you'll like it!

We began our search for a quality trailer with Airstream as it seemed the logical place to start. As I began researching, we were quickly dissuaded by owner reports of poor workmanship with many repairs being necessary right off the lot. I could understand some of these, were we talking about a $15-20K entry level trailer, but not a $75K+ icon. After I reached beyond the beauty of the Airstream interior, I decided one big problem was getting in the way: We weren't willing to pay a premium price for poor quality control and an obvious lack of care for the ultimate owner. My final judgment is that Airstream, after being bought out by Thor, is simply another mass produced trailer sold by a company that is leveraging the longstanding reputation of what was once the ultimate luxury trailer, looking to profit off the buyers thinking they are getting the same product that earned the Airstream it's reputation. In addition, there is the dealer "middleman" who, many times, only cares about making the sale, after which all concern for the satisfaction of the buyer is lost. As luck would have it, we discovered the unknown-to-us Oliver Travel Trailer. Though not for everyone, we feel our Oliver Elite II is hands above any Airstream of comparable (or even higher) cost in regards to beauty, quality, attention to detail, customer satisfaction, service, and resale value. One thing, in particular, that attracted us, was the ability to customize your trailer, adding only options you want and are willing to pay for. Airstream comes standard with many features that we weren't interested in, but had no choice of; thus we would pay for features we didn't particularly want. I think the most amazing difference, however, is doing business with a family that is passionate about the product they build and caring toward their customers. There aren't many places in the commercial world of RV marketing where you will get this kind of treatment.

I'll see if there is a larger size . . . . this one isn't big enough for the Yamaha 2200i, unfortunately.

I think this is typical . . . . I once heard that the rule of thumb is that Absorption fridges will cool down to 40 degs below ambient temperature. One thing you can do is deploy the awning so it shades the wall where the fridge is installed. It should also help if you can keep the cabin temperature below 80 degrees. We have a small battery operated fridge fan that we use to circulate air, thus helping with cooling; it is also important to not pack the fridge so tightly that air can't circulate. When we camped in our travel van, we would keep ice packs in the freezer and place them in the fridge when outside temps were extreme - basically using it as an ice box! This was a larger Dometic model 8555, that had to be set at the highest cooling setting to keep the temperature around 40 degrees. I hated that fridge; our Oliver's Norcold seems to work much better, though we haven't camped yet where temperature got above 50. I have high hopes for the Norcold.

Thanks . . . . Do you secure it to the pickup somehow? And do you lock it? Looking at the dimensions, it won't hold the Yamaha 2200i, which is 21.9 x 11.8 x 18.5 Maybe we should consider a smaller generator; a 2000w might even fit in a toolbox.